National

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Sochi lit up Friday with music and dance to unleash the ultimate achievement of Vladimir Putin’s Russia: a Winter Olympics to showcase the best athletes on ice and snow that the world has to offer.
The opening ceremony on the edge of the Black Sea and subsequent games are Russia’s chance to tell its story of post-Soviet resurrection to the world — and dispel the anger, fear and suspicion that has marred the buildup to these most expensive Olympics ever.
Just after the sun set over the Caucasus Mountains and along the seashore just outside Fisht Stadium in the wet-paint-fresh Olympic Park, Russian TV star Yana Churikova shouted to a pre-show crowd still taking their seats: “Welcome to the center of the universe!”
Soon to come are the athletes, in the traditional parade of nations that marks every opening ceremony. Some 3,000 will compete in 98 events, more people and events than ever at the Winter Games. The ceremony is crafted as a celebration of Russia and is presenting Putin’s version: a country with a rich and complex history emerging confidently from a rocky two decades and now capable of putting on a major international sports event.

NEW YORK (AP) — Less than 12 hours after winning the Super Bowl, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll already was talking about getting started on next season.
“The first meeting that we’ll have will be tomorrow. ... Our guys would be surprised if we didn’t,” Carroll said Monday morning. “We really have an eye on what’s coming, and we don’t dwell on what just happened. We’ll take this in stride.”
He appeared at a news conference at a Manhattan hotel with linebacker Malcolm Smith, the MVP of Seattle’s 43-8 victory over Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos on Sunday night.
Carroll oversees a team with the fourth-youngest roster for a Super Bowl champion, with an average age of 26 years, 175 days, according to STATS. The youngest champs ever were the Pittsburgh Steelers who won the 1975 Super Bowl, and they collected a second consecutive title the next year.
Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson just wrapped up his second season in the league, as did Jermaine Kearse, the receiver who caught one of the QB’s two touchdown passes Sunday night. Doug Baldwin, who caught the other, is only three years into his pro career, as are star cornerback Richard Sherman and Smith, who at 24 is the fourth-youngest Super Bowl MVP.

For all the NFL records Peyton Manning owns — and there are plenty — he is one victory away from the one accomplishment that eventually might define his legacy more than any other.
If Manning’s Denver Broncos beat the Seattle Seahawks Sunday, he would become the first starting quarterback to win Super Bowl titles with two franchises. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and the game can be seen on FOX.
Manning is already a larger-than-life figure in Indianapolis, of course, widely credited with turning a basketball town into a football town by making the Colts truly matter. He led them to two NFL championship games, winning in 2007, losing in 2010.
And now Manning, at the age of 37, two years removed from sitting out an entire season after a series of neck operations, has a chance to forever stamp himself as a figure of similar importance in Denver, too. As it is, he already has joined Craig Morton and Kurt Warner as the only QBs to lead two clubs to the Super Bowl, although they didn’t win with both.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — So much for all the hand-wringing about a snowed-in Super Bowl.
How would freezing spectators deal with the cold at MetLife Stadium?
What sort of havoc would a big storm wreak on transportation and other game-day logistics?
What if the NFL decided to postpone the game between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks for 24 hours?
If the National Weather Service’s forecast is correct, the buzz about a blizzard at the first cold-weather, outdoor Super Bowl — the official host committee logo features a snowflake — will turn out to be just talk. As of Wednesday, no snow, or even rain, was being predicted for Sunday.
“It would have been cool in the snow,” Seattle linebacker Heath Farwell said. “That’s, I guess, how football’s supposed to be played.”
Players on both teams have experienced chilly conditions during games, of course, although they don’t regularly brace for conditions that are anticipated for this Sunday, even if there isn’t any snow. Sunday’s high temperature is expected to be 38 degrees, which would make it the coldest of the 48 Super Bowls so far.
With the opening kickoff scheduled for about 6:30 p.m., the mercury could drop into the 20s by the time the game ends.

LONDON (AP) — Go ahead — just try to get away with it. If you're willing to take the risk, you'll pay the price.
That's the challenge laid down to drug cheats thinking they can dope their way to success at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
International Olympic and anti-doping officials are implementing the toughest drug-testing program in Winter Games history, using intelligence to target athletes and events considered most at risk.
Authorities are focusing their efforts on weeding out dopers through rigorous pre-games and pre-competition tests. Armed with an improved scientific method that can detect drug use going back months rather than days, the International Olympic Committee will conduct a record number of tests.
Urine and blood samples will be stored for eight years for retroactive testing, providing further deterrence to anyone thinking they can avoid being caught.
"I think it would be stupid to try to cheat," IOC medical director Dr. Richard Budgett told The Associated Press. "If there are any doping cases in Sochi, some of them may be because athletes are being stupid."

DALLAS (AP) — Former Dallas Cowboys player Josh Brent was sentenced Friday to 180 days in jail and 10 years of probation for a drunken car crash that killed his friend and teammate, Jerry Brown.
Brent was convicted Wednesday of intoxication manslaughter for the December 2012 crash on a suburban Dallas highway that killed Brown, who was a passenger in Brent’s car.
Brent, a Cowboys defensive tackle, and Brown, a linebacker on the practice squad, also played together at the University of Illinois and were close friends. They were headed home from a night of partying when Brent lost control of his Mercedes and crashed. Officers who arrived on scene saw Brent trying to pull Brown’s body from the wreckage.
Blood tests pegged Brent’s blood alcohol content at 0.18 percent, which is more than twice the state’s legal limit to drive of 0.08 percent. Prosecutors told jurors that the burly, 320-pound lineman had as many as 17 drinks on the night of the crash.
One of Brent’s attorneys, George Milner, argued that Brent wasn’t drunk and was only “guilty of being stupid behind the wheel of a car.”
He contended that Brent couldn’t have had nearly as much to drink as prosecutors said he had, and that the police blood tests were flawed.

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s pigskin-prognosticating camel has died just weeks before the state is set to host its first Super Bowl.
Princess was a fixture at the Popcorn Park Zoo for 10 years. Zoo manager John Bergmann said the 26-year-old camel was euthanized after arthritis made it impossible for her to stand.
Princess’ made her picks with graham crackers. Bergmann would hold one in each hand, marked with the names of the competing teams. Whichever hand she chose was her prediction.
Princess correctly picked the Baltimore Ravens in last year’s Super Bowl. Her best run came in the 2008 season, when she picked 17 of 22 games correctly, including the Pittsburgh Steelers to win Super Bowl XLIII.